It really has been shocking listening to the news re this benefit cut - it is complete madness - even more so if you have watched the film, 'We're Not Broke', I covered a couple of days ago - see here. There is money it is just there is not the political will to tax in the places that need it...see below Green Party press release this morning...but first a quick ad for the Coffee House discussion:
Coffee House Discussions Sponsored by the Green Party
The next Coffee House Discussion, complete with coffee (of course!), all kinds of other drinks and scrumptious cakes, is at Star Anise cafe in Stroud, (behind the Old Painswick Inn, Gloucester St.), on Friday, January 25th from 7.30-9.30 pm. A flyer is attached – please try to distribute some or put them up somewhere conspicuous. This month’s topic is:
Benefit cuts – are they fair?
- What are the changes?
- How will they affect individuals?
- Are the cuts going to help the economy?
- Will more people be on the breadline?
- What are the alternatives?
Green Party: ‘Benefits cap will hit the poorest even harder’
THE GREEN Party has called upon MPs to reject the
coalition’s Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill. The Bill, which has its Second Reading in Parliament
today, would raise benefits by 1% per year until April 2015. The current policy
sees benefits rise in line with inflation, and so welfare recipients will have
a real-terms cut.
Natalie
Bennett, leader of the Green Party, said: “MPs are being asked
whether they are prepared to deliberately, with all of the facts before them,
choose to significantly reduce the living standards of millions of their
voters.”
“We can start with the one in five UK workers paid
less than a living wage – who either as parents, or as householders, will have
been receiving state support to enable them to continue to live. The
responsibility should being lying with their employers - if they all paid a
living wage the net benefit to the government would be about £7.5 billion - but the government is
showing no inclination to lift the minimum wage to a liveable level, ending the
past decades of corporate welfare payments.
“We can also add in the hundreds of thousands of
people surviving – not living, but surviving - on the measly sum of £71/week or
less in job seekers’ allowance.”
“And we can add in millions of children. As the Child
Poverty Action group says, the Bill can “only increase absolute child poverty,
relative child poverty and material deprivation for children”. Its figures show that having slowly got
the rate of child poverty below 20%, the rate is set under this regime to leap
back to 25% in a decade.”
Not only is the cut immoral, but it is economically
illiterate - facing the clear risk of a triple-dip recession, the government is
planning to pull millions of pounds out of the pockets of people who, had they
received it, would certainly have fed the money back into the economy in buying
food, buying energy, and buying services.”
The Green Party argues that the only ethical and
effective way of reducing social security costs is to create jobs - not slash
budgets.
Natalie said: “What we need to do in the longer term is change the direction
of the British economy – bring manufacturing and food production back to
Britain, restore strong, diverse local economies built around small businesses
and co-operatives paying decent wages on which their staff can build lives and
communities. That’s a longterm project – but
today we can think about the British people – the nurses, the soldiers, the
teaching staff, the local government workers, and yes, the unemployed – and say
no to the Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill.”
“That’s what Green MP Caroline Lucas
will be doing in Westminster today. What’s your MP doing?”
ENDS
For more information contact Zoe Hall on 0207 549 0315 or zoe.hall@greenparty.org.uk
Notes
1. For the Welfare
Benefits Up-rating Bill, visit: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/2012-2013/0116/20130116.pdf
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